Bang Up To The Elephant

[polymods]

✖ VICTORIA'S SECRET

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The fog that has blanketed the city for a month finally lifts a little - there are days with actual sunshine now! Not many, and the sky is still frequently thick with smog, but every so often light pours through the holes in the clouds. The river that flows from the sea into the city still smells foul, but maybe you’re starting to get used to it.

Walk the cobbled streets and you will find that the city is crowded and filthy, but full of merchants, pubs, and theatres. Vast wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.

In the center of the sprawling city is a temple with towering gothic spires and huge stained glass windows depicting all manner of beings that might be gods or angels or monsters. You could look for hours and still be finding new figures plucked straight from books of myth and religion. Inside, the main chamber has a grand vaulted ceiling, and dozens of pews line the aisle up to the altar, which is oddly anticlimactic compared to the lavish surroundings: just a plain stone table with a lit oil lamp in the centre. Two hallways branch off on either side of the room: one leads to private baths and a communal kitchen, the other to monastic style chambers with thin beds. Not the most comfortable place to stay, but it’ll do in a pinch!

The High Temple has also reappeared at the edge of the city, with its considerably more comfortable lodgings.

Alternatively you can venture into the city and find yourself some other lodging - every Traveler has been supplied with some pocket money. Just be careful that it isn’t stolen by some street urchin. Travelers can also find an era-appropriate outfit that will fit them perfectly laid in the first sleeping chamber they visit.

Notes:
1. The High Temple and anything you may have stored there is available to all characters this month.

2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

3. The city greatly resembles Victorian London, and the technology and general way of life is all of that era. Feel free to explore the city! These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

4. Most food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities. Most. Some of it’s going to be pretty gross or cooked improperly, so be careful.

5. The people in the city are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

6. Have fun!

---

Ⅱ. COME UNDONE
CW: dead bodies, archeological graverobbing.
Somehow, some way, you find yourself with an invitation card:

Lord Trewlaney at Home: the Unwrapping of
THE JEWEL OF THE SEVEN STARS!
Half-past Eight
Unwrapping? How saucy! Or perhaps you have an inkling of exactly what that means.

The invitation gets you entry to a well kept home on the more well-to-do side of the city. There are plenty of servants circulating with food and drink of which you are welcome to partake. Society’s elite chatter and mingle all around you; maybe you fit in, and maybe you don’t.

Regardless, you don’t have to wait very long for the main event. The host of this little soiree - presumably Lord Trewlaney himself, a little man with a weak chin and an impressive mustache - stands at the front of the room and holds his hands aloft.

“Ladies and gentleman,” he says in a clear voice. “BEHOLD! We shall now commence with the unwrapping of this, a fine example of Egyptian mummification, who was once called the Jewel of the Seven Stars!”

A wheeled table is brought forward, covered in a purple velvet cloth. Dramatically, Lord Trewlaney flings it back to reveal a body wrapped in ancient linen bandages. The crowd sighs, and Trewlaney’s eyes scan the crowd.

“Ah, you there!” he cries, pointing at you. Or maybe the person beside you.

“You folk there! Here, come up, my friends! You may have the honour of being a part of history!”

The crowd pushes you and your companion forward with excited murmurs. Soon enough the two of you are beside the mummy, and Trewlaney is handing you a pair of scissors. Up close the body smells of cinnamon and something else, something familiar.

“Reveal its face!” he urges you. And so, you cut.

Much to your surprise what is revealed is not a desiccated corpse, but your own likeness. Before you have time to react the mummy sits up and turns to face the audience, who oohs and ahhs.

The mummy’s lips part and it speaks. What does it say? Something extremely revealing; in plain terms, the mummy reveals something an aspect of yourself that you would rather have kept hidden.

Oh dear! You can shut yourself up, of course, but before you do maybe you ought to consider that interfering with a mummy was considered a surefire way to fall under a curse…

Notes:
1. What is revealed can of course be of any degree of seriousness. Murder? Or do you just secretly enjoy RomComs?

2. Shut the mummy up before it has its say and you will suffer the Mummy’s Curse: bad luck that will plague you for the rest of the month!

---

Ⅲ. IMAGINARIUM
The sign above the door simply reads Cabinet of Curiosities. How intriguing! And at the very least you can get out of the chill.

Inside there are dozens of wooden cases with glass fronts, each filled with shelves of all manner of objects. Some look expensive and exotic, while others are almost painfully mundane. There are taxidermied animals, wet specimens, fossils, glass eyes, rocks and crystals, pottery, statuettes… There’s a little of everything.

As you peer amongst the stuffed ducks and fossilized plants, you’ll spot something familiar. It’s an object that you recognise as personally significant whether because it’s from your life back home, or because it’s symbolic. It represents a dream or a hope you have for the future.

If you take the object out of the cabinet for a closer look, you and whoever happens to be standing nearby will instantly be transported to a hazy vision of what that lovely dream is. It won’t last forever - indeed, maybe only a moment. Depending on what that hoped for future is, you might have some explaining to do.

Notes:
1. All futures are something hoped for. They may be completely unrealistic and bittersweet, but they are something wanted and not feared.

---

Ⅳ. GARDENS
CW: mind altering substances.
If there’s one spot within the city where you might be able to find some refuge from the dank scent of ocean rot and the sour smell of body odour, then it’s going to be the Gardens. A jewel toward the west side of the city, you will find a greenhouse containing all manner of tropical plants, and a rose garden with over a 100 different types available for you to enjoy.

But why stop there? There are also areas where you can stop and have tea with a friend. They even have those little sandwiches with the crust cut off! They have cucumber, egg, and cream cheese. Each of these has a different effect: cucumber sandwiches will provide a mild sense of euphoria, while the egg will give you a lot of energy (and maybe some gas). Cream cheese will make you very relaxed and prone to oversharing. There are also perfectly regular cakes and biscuits available, as well.

Maybe you’re feeling a bit more somber. In the northeast end of the park there is a secret pet cemetery with over 300 tiny tombstones paying tribute to the tragic losses of many much-loved pets. The area is disused, overgrown with ivy and ferns. Sitting there evokes a sense of peace.

Prefer to see some living wildlife? Fear not, the park seems to attract several different types of songbirds which makes it a hotspot for birdwatching. There are binoculars available to use for that purpose. Or you could use them to peer into the city’s seamy underbelly. Just don’t get isolated and weird about it.

Sometimes I can still hear his voice...

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

chloe decker | ota

[detectivemiracle]

I. Come Undone.

Chloe sees herself as largely an observer here, rather than a participant. Well, apart from that murder she tried to solve a few weeks ago. No, she's more of the quiet audience member, for sure. So when curiosity over the invitation gets the better of her, she tries to keep to the back of the crowd.

Then the mummy is revealed, and she starts feeling a sense of trepidation - especially as she starts being shoved to the front of the crowd.

"I don't think this is very, er... respectful?" she says, glancing around. No one seems to notice or care, and she is wildly outnumbered, even with the big pair of scissors in her hands. Her options: to do what Lord Trelawney is suggesting and (probably) desecrate the corpse of an innocent person, or - defy him, and the entire group of people here, and risk - who knows what. Having to defend herself against a mob? She wouldn't put it past this place.

Sighing, she gives in. As carefully as she can, because she really hates to be so disrespectful to the dead, she snips at the bindings over the face.

When she sees her own face peeking back at her, she drops the scissors in shock.

"I'm terrified of what will happen if Lucifer actually becomes God," the Chloe-shaped mummy says, in her own voice. "What if I never see him again?"

She's not trying to stop the mummy from talking - no, she's simply trying to push her way back through the crowd, away from this spectacle. She really should know better by now!

II. Imaginarium.

Shopping. Shopping should be safe, right? Right. The little shop seems interesting, and Chloe spends quite a while browsing through the various objects on display. And then one object in particular catches her eye: a ring. It's rather distinctive, but not particularly ornate. It's silver, with a large, black square stone set in it. Her eyes go wide at the sight, and she immediately reaches for it.

"How the Hell did this get here?" she asks - and then, the scene shifts.

It's a bright, sunny day, and Chloe is in a floral sun dress, standing outside an auditorium of some sort. She's holding hands with a man - tall, dark, handsome, in an obviously expensive suit. The silver ring with the black stone glints on his hand as he tangles their fingers together.

"I can't believe my little girl is all grown up," Chloe says, happy and a little wistful.

"Yes, it seems only yesterday she barely came up to here," the man says, his British lilt amused as he holds his free hand up to his waist for a moment. "Now, she's almost as beautiful as her mother."

He exchanges a look with Chloe, their expressions clearly that of a couple in love with each other.

"Hey, Mom." The voice behind them breaks their gaze and Chloe turns with a grin, grabbing up the young woman who approaches in a big hug.

"Hey, Monkey! Congratulations!"

"Wish you'd stop calling me that," the younger woman mutters with a huff. She's wearing a graduation gown and cap.

The tall man also smiles. "Yes, you're putting that devious mind of yours to good use, bravo," he jokes.

The young woman smirks. "Guess I'm not an urchin anymore, huh?" She holds out her hand, as if for him to shake, her smile suggesting this is some kind of inside joke between them.

The tall man's smile almost matches hers, and instead of shaking her hand, he pulls her in for a hug. "Yes, we're all quite proud of you," he murmurs. "Your father, not least of all." That last bit is spoken a little more quietly, a little more somberly, as if for her ears alone. She glances up at him, and nods.

"Thanks, Lucifer."

As the scene fades, Chloe sucks in a breath, clutching the ring tightly in her hand.

III. Wildcard.

[ Find Chloe wandering the garden, or the temple, or doing more shopping in the streets! If you have a particular scenario in mind, hit me up at frodabaggins. As always, I will match brackets or prose. ]

II

[unkindled_madness]

[Of course shopping isn't safe. The Ancient's magic will find them in the most mundane of actions.

But Chloe's vision for the future is, to Sephiroth, almost entirely foreign. A loving couple? Loving parents? It's idyllic in a way he couldn't have imagined, even down to the clear and sunny sky. He can't identify the graduation gown either. Some sort of coming of age ceremony?

He does remember that Chloe's daughter is only twelve. Whatever this is, it's years off.

He doesn't know how to feel about all that, so he'll... ask the easy question:]

...what was the accomplishment?

[detectivemiracle]

[ Chloe is preoccupied, after the vision, in examining the ring. As if she's not sure it's real, somehow, or maybe not sure if it's really the ring she thinks it is.

The question, then, startles her a bit, and she glances around, recognizing Sephiroth and relaxing a bit. ]

Oh, you saw that? I, uh. That's graduation. You don't have that in your world? When someone completes their schooling, they graduate.

But that wasn't real. I mean, my daughter's only just started middle school.

[unkindled_madness]

I am familiar with the concept. The clothing is different.

[...he assumes. Apart from military training facilities, he's never been to a school.]

It did seem quite positive. Unreal though it was.

[detectivemiracle]

[ Chloe nods. That makes sense. The cap and gown thing is kind of strange, when she thinks about it. ]

I - yeah. Usually when I see things, it's not nearly as pleasant. I wonder if it's an actual - I don't know, premonition? Something that will actually happen? Or if it's just... some kind of fantasy.

[unkindled_madness]

It is odd, to see pleasant things here. [That's why he remarked on it.]

Do you think it a likely event?

I

[neverwither]

Another Chloe is also making her way through the spectators, beelining for the woman who's trying to escape the scene. The android manages to weave through enough to get close to the detective, falling into step at her side. The question is an obvious, and probably redundant, one to ask. Chloe asks it anyway.

"Are you okay?"

[detectivemiracle]

"Uh, well, I'd like to leave," Chloe admits.

The mummy is still talking. Loudly, over the crowd. She didn't do anything to stop it. "When I found out what Lucifer really is, I tried to send him back to Hell! I had sex with Marcus in the evidence room once!"

"Okay, yeah, leaving right now," she says, her face turning beet red as she shoves her way out, finally.

[neverwither]

Chloe's expression is one of surprise and then a small dose of amusement as the mummy continues (though she does her best to get rid of the amusement as it really isn't appropriate). As far as confessions of the soul go, the detective's are all... pretty reasonable?

When they're away from the gathering, the android waits a moment or two before saying anything. "It's quite a thing when even someone's secrets speak of compassion," she offers quietly.

[detectivemiracle]

By the time she gets back out to the street, Chloe is literally facepalming. "I'm not sure what my attempted murder of my boyfriend or my sex life have to do with compassion, but thanks anyway," she mutters.

[neverwither]

"I'm sorry, I just meant..." Chloe starts to flail. Where she could give an earnest, and lengthy, explanation, she goes for making an offer. "Would you like to go and get a drink or something?" That's a more typical thing to say, isn't it?

II

[kyley_b]

Kyle has spoken to Chloe enough to recognise who the young woman must be - he's heard her use the nickname before, even. The scene then, he knows, is a projection of what might be.

Which is maybe why he asks with zero tact whatsoever, "Holy shit, is that the devil? He's hot!"

[detectivemiracle]

Chloe, still gripping the ring in her hand like a lifeline, is a bit startled by the sudden outburst - but relaxes a bit when she realizes who it is.

"Ah - yeah, he is," she agrees, because - well, yes, obviously. "Probably a good thing he's not actually here to hear you - his ego doesn't need feeding."

[kyley_b]

"Yeah, I kinda figured Satan would be pretty full of himself," Kyle muses. He's impressed by how human the guy looks - the devil Kyle knows is a lot more traditional.

"He looks like one of those rich Italian dicks on Instagram who flexes with his Maserati and shit."

Kyle gestures at the whole scene. "So this isn't real, huh?"

[detectivemiracle]

"I don't think he has a Maserati," Chloe says, laughing a bit at her own pedantry. "He usually drives his antique Corvette."

She shakes it off, tucking the ring into a pocket of her dress - at least these dresses have pockets. "And, uh. No. My daughter is only twelve. If it's real, it's something that hasn't happened yet."

She would like it to be real.

[kyley_b]

Kyle smirks. "Right, right. But he absolutely has an Instagram, right?"

He nods, looking thoughtful. "Do you think this could be an actual future? Like are we seeing through space and time and stuff?"

II.

[puntificates]

Though Ellie has no idea what she's looking at, one thing is clear: whatever is happening right now inside the shop of Curiosities is personal to Chloe.

It feels wrong to watch, but Ellie has never seen anything like it. It's like a memory being played out in the very air itself; is this the magic she's heard so much about? And by the time she's broken herself from its spell, the vision is dissipating and Chloe clutching something in her hand.

"...was that real?"

Even if it isn't her intention, Ellie's question - coming from behind Chloe's shoulder a little ways back in the shop - might startle her for breaking the other woman's reverie.

[detectivemiracle]

The question does, indeed, startle Chloe from her reverie - but when she spots the girl standing there, her shoulders relax a bit. She still has the ring clutched in her hand, but her attention is on Ellie now as the vision fades.

"Oh, hi, Ellie," she says with a small smile. "Uh, I don't know. I mean, if it is real, it hasn't happened yet. My daughter back home is only twelve. That... definitely seemed like her, though. And that was my boyfriend."

[puntificates]

"You looked really happy."

She says it with a little smile; it was nice, even if it was nothing but an illusion, some kind of magic... whatever the hell it was. After some of the things she's heard could happen on these islands, this was a pleasant surprise.

"Gotta be kind of trippy? Seeing your kid all grown up." Ellie takes a little step closer when it seems like Chloe's recovering from both the not-so-private daydream and getting snuck up on. "Your boyfriend was a tall drink of water, by the way. Good for you." Not Ellie's type, but it would be hard to deny the way he had looked at Chloe. Guess... Chloe must really miss them.

[detectivemiracle]

Chloe has to laugh at that. A tall drink of water. "Aha, yeah, he is," she murmurs, possibly with a slight pink twinge to her cheeks. "And uh, yeah, that was... trippy. I was just thinking, back home - before I wound up here - about how fast she's growing up. How she's not going to be my little girl for much longer. But even so, this is... a lot. It's all I want for her."

[puntificates]

The way Chloe's eyes light up in a certain way while talking about her daughter says a lot about how close they must be. It sucks... it really sucks to think they've been separated like this, but at least Ellie figures Chloe's kid won't be missing her if what Ellie and Joel experienced can be trusted.

"You call her Monkey? That's pretty stupid cute."

Chloe is a cute Mom; there's something about her Ellie likes, something she can't quite put her finger on, but it's nice.

"She was going to college in your dream-thing? I heard about the goofy caps and stuff."

i.

[threeterparker]

Peter had gone to this 'unveiling' out of morbid curiosity more than anything. He hadn't expected to see Chloe called up to the stage, and he definitely wasn't expecting what came next.

So when he sees Chloe flee the stage and try to sneak her way through the crowd to the exit, well... He does what any good superhero would do, and weaves his way through the throng of people to her side, helping shield her from the jeering onlookers as the pair of them work towards leaving.

"Alright, out of the way, nothing to see here!"

[detectivemiracle]

Well, at least Peter is trying to help. Chloe pushes through, even as the mummy keeps speaking.

"I tried to kill the man I love! It's my fault that Dan's - "

Out into the hallway and Chloe rubs her hands over her face.

"I should know better than that by now," she mutters. Then, to Peter, "Thanks."

[threeterparker]

Once they're out in the hallway, Peter turns to shut the door behind them and make sure no one is going to follow them out or try to bring them back in. Only once he's confident they're alone does he turn to look over Chloe, his face full of concern.

"Yeah, don't sweat it. You looked like you could use an out." He frowns, knowing how he would feel if he were in her shoes. "You okay?"

[detectivemiracle]

"Oh, yeah, you know, just had a mummy with my face yell out some of my dirty laundry to a room full of strangers, it's fine," Chloe says, her voice a little high as she marches towards where she recalls the door to the street is at.

"I'll be okay," she adds, attempting to smile at Peter. "This place does things like that. I guess it's good I don't have any worse skeletons in my closet."